Christmas in Wichita

This past weekend, Shannon and I ventured north to Wichita to spend a New Years/Christmas weekend with my family. Besides Charles being sick the whole time (no fun) and not taking part in festivities, it was a good weekend.

We got in Thursday evening, bought some snacks for New Years Eve and ate none of them. :) By the time we got back and ate dinner, it was about midnight. So our snacky things were used over the weekend instead of all in one night.

Friday morning we did Christmas at Mom's. Charles was sick, so just Jayme and Nikki came over. Maria and Mom were also there. It was a fun time. Jayme got some cool maternity clothing and a full size key board so she can practice piano at her place. Nikki got 3 Candy Land games (it's a good game I guess) and some other fun stuff. Oh, Shannon and I found her a kids Chiefs jersey for 4.50$ (instead of 60+$). Sweet.


Maria got some expensive make up, a beaded jewlery making set, and groovy netbook. Shannon got a fun Nerf gun and a miter saw. I got a bunch of maternity clothes and an embroidery machine. Yes that is right, Mom and Shannon are buying me an embroidery machine!! Holy cow. I cried. I tried not to, but really, just let it out. I was so excited and just kept thinking, geez these are expensive. I can't believe they are going to buy me one!

So Saturday we went around to sewing machine stores, learning about and looking at embroidery machines. It comes down to this, we are going to look some more. Unless we want to spend over 2000$ to get a mid-line one, we need to look more. There is a cheap (just under 1000$) Singer Futura 350 with some software, but that gets a lot of bad reviews. The similar (possibly just repackaged) Viking h-class 500E is about 1200$, but if it's just a Futura, we don't want it. Then there are the Brother 700's. They are embroidery only and look like they could work. But Janome MemoryCraft 350E looks like it's worth looking at too. People seem to love it and it looks like it has features I'd like.

Here is what we want:

• Ability to embroider in largest hoop possible. Perferable greater than 4.5 by 6 inches.
• Ability to hook up to computer, and not through a propriety card reader. So, either USB to computer or memory stick (a normal one).
• Ability to make my own designs. I don't plan to take a premade teddy bear and embroidery it. I want to make my own math/stat designs for embroidery.
• To buy it from a shop that has a trade-in policy where I can trade it in for full value within the first year and possible upgrade my machinery. This gives me the ability to start "small" and work my way up if needed.
• Price, the cheaper the better.
  

Here's what I don't care about:

• Color screen. Really, not worth the money to me at all.
• Propriety card. I actually do care. I don't want it.
• Stored designs. I don't plan to use a stored Mickey Mouse character. I'm not against Mickey, but if I want it, I will be able to get it whenever I need it (see 3rd bullet above).

So, if you have any advice, I'd take it! I'm SO EXCITED! I plan to embroider so many things. I already have a mental list and I have no machine to do it on. :)


But on to the rest of my weekend. Saturday we saw Maria off to Manhattan for work. Shannon hung out with Andy and Rusty. Mom and I chilled at her place. Then Sunday, Shannon went to see Avatar with Andy and Rusty. Mom and I chilled some more, packed up the car, and chatted. Shannon and I headed out early (like 3:15) because of potential crummy roads in OK. Turns out they were alright. The only thing crummy was my tummy. But hey, I'll live with a crummy tummy while I build a baby in there.